Written by Kelly Laco, Executive Political Editor, Dailymail.Com
February 6, 2024 18:49, Updated February 6, 2024 19:14
- House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Hunter Biden’s laptop was neglected by social media companies
- Chairman Jim Jordan revealed that Elvis Chan, the FBI agent involved in the story, had lied about the computer.
- Jordan says ‘failure to comply’ with subpoenas ‘hinders’ Republican-led investigation into ‘significant national concern’
Republicans are suing Justice Department officials allegedly involved in the Big Tech crackdown on Hunter Biden’s laptop story, accusing them of actively avoiding investigation.
The House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Hunter Biden’s laptop was neglected by social media companies. As part of the investigation, Chairman Jim Jordan revealed that the FBI agent involved in the story, Elvis Chan, had lied about the computer.
Mr. Jordan led the case against Mr. Chan on Tuesday, accusing him of “defying” the commission’s requests to testify and obstructing its investigation into censorship.
Mr. Chan’s “failure to comply” with the subpoena “impedes” a Republican-led investigation into a matter of “significant public concern,” Mr. Jordan wrote, and Mr. Chan has been barred from appearing at the Capitol. It asks the D.C. District Court to enforce it.
Last September, Chan voluntarily appeared before the committee and agreed to be represented by a private attorney. However, the Justice Department launched a last-minute operation to block Mr. Chan from testifying.
A government witness may bring either the agency’s attorney or a private attorney to the committee interview, but not both. The committee said the rule was designed to allow agency witnesses to testify more candidly without fear of professional retaliation.
But two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told DailyMail.com that the Justice Department stalled the testimony after a Justice Department lawyer also showed up on Friday morning. As a result, Mr. Chan’s interview did not take place as scheduled.
A formal summons for Mr Chan is now expected to be issued late Friday, and he is scheduled to appear in court for a transcribed interview next Thursday, September 21st.
The FBI disputed claims that the Justice Department blocked Mr. Chan from testifying, calling it a “significant deviation” from normal procedure. And the Justice Department said it was the committee, not the committee, that blocked the interview.
“Today, after an FBI agent traveled across the country to volunteer for a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to be accompanied by an attorney of his own choice,” an FBI spokesperson told DailyMail. told .com.
“Upon arrival at the Capitol, committee staff directed agency attorneys to leave the premises and the interview could not proceed. This is a significant departure from normal procedure and the committee’s treatment of FBI employees. “This is an unnecessary escalation of the situation. FBI officials remain willing to grant voluntary interviews with appropriate legal representation.”
“The FBI recognizes the importance of Congressional oversight and will continue to follow the long-established coordination process,” the spokesperson continued.
The spokesperson also said that more than a dozen other FBI employees participated in the committee’s hearings without incident.
A Justice Department official told DailyMail.com, “The Justice Department did not block the interview; the committee did.”
“Agent Chan has chosen to be represented by both an attorney and a private attorney. He went to the Capitol to testify this morning, but committee staff turned him away instead of asking questions. , threatened to have the agency’s lawyers removed from the room.”
Last year, Mr. Jordan released excerpts of testimony from Mr. Chan, who was one of the FBI’s liaisons to tech companies, and Laura Demrow, the current head of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force.
Chan testified in November 2022 as part of a lawsuit filed by the states of Missouri and Louisiana against the federal government and the Biden administration for colluding with social media companies to censor speech.
Mr. Jordan said Mr. Chan testified that he had repeated meetings with Facebook about the laptop, but only one meeting. He also testified that he was not aware of any internal discussions about the laptop, but that he told his colleagues that he was “aware of the situation.”
Mr. Demrow spoke without incident before the Jordanian committee earlier this summer.
Jordan said Demrow revealed how the FBI knew the laptop was not a fake or a plant, but asked social media companies to confirm that the laptop was real. He said he refused.
Jordan recently released internal Facebook documents that led to bombshell revelations about Hunter Biden’s laptop and show the FBI knew it was real and belonged to him. However, Facebook and Twitter declined to confirm the fact.
The decision led to a report in the New York Post that the laptop was blocked by social media companies that labeled it false information.
“Internal FBI documents reveal that an FBI special agent lied in testimony about the FBI’s role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop case,” Jordan tweeted last month.
In a thread on Twitter, Jordan explained how the New York Post first published an article on October 14, 2020 about the laptop Biden left behind at a repair shop in Delaware.
The laptop contained damning photos of Hunter doing drugs and having fun with prostitutes.
It also contained emails and large amounts of information about his business dealings.
The day the Post published its story, Chan and Demrow met with representatives from Twitter and then Facebook.
When the Twitter team asked if the FBI believed Hunter Biden’s laptop was real, one FBI official said “yes,” while another quickly said “no comment.” answered.
Mr Demrow told Mr Jordan’s committee that there was then an internal review and it was decided that the response would be “no comment” from then on.
At his next meeting with Facebook, when asked if the laptop was real, Demrow himself told Facebook, “No comment.”
“This is an ongoing investigation and I typically do not comment on matters of an ongoing investigation when asked,” she told Jordan’s committee.
Jordan declared Monday, “Did Demrow know that the FBI had the laptop and that it was real?” yes.
“Did other key members of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force know?” Yes.
“The FBI knew the laptop was real, but they still decided to say ‘no comment.’
“I know what happened next.
“Twitter and Facebook censored the @nypost article.
“The Biden campaign secretly engineered the events that led 51 former intelligence officials to discredit this story as Russian disinformation.”
Jordan and his allies believe the FBI was working to downplay this story and discredit it in order to help Joe Biden’s electoral chances.
Mr. Jordan then featured excerpts from Mr. Chan’s testimony late last year.
Chan was asked by officials in Missouri and Louisiana whether he was involved in a meeting with Facebook after Oct. 14 in which Hunter Biden’s laptop was discussed.
Mr. Chan replied that he did not believe that.
“I was assured that I was not involved in any meetings with social media companies where Hunter Biden was discussed, other than the one incident I spoke about,” Chan said.
However, Jordan said his committee “on October 15th, just one day after the @nypost article and the first Facebook, Agent Chan secretly posted a Facebook post about Hunter Biden’s laptop. He said he recently obtained internal Facebook documents that prove the “follow-up” call was made. meeting! ‘
Mr. Jordan pointed out that Mr. Chan also claimed to have “no internal knowledge.” [the FBI’s] In response to the ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop, an internal Facebook memo says he told colleagues he was “up to date on current developments within the FBI.”
Jordan added: “Is it any wonder why the Biden Justice Department has so far blocked the committee’s efforts to interview Agent Chan?”
The committee plans to find out the truth behind the “lie” when Mr. Chan appears before the committee next week.